Double Jump, Super Jump, 1 Airdash, Dash Type: Run
Play-style
Balanced, Rushdown, Sacrifice
Team Role
Anchor
Overview
Tien (AKA Tenshinhan or Tianjinfan) is a student of the Crane School (the enemy of Roshi's own Turtle Style) and was one of Goku's greatest childhood rivals. Accompanied by his doll-like companion, Chiaotzu, Tien has continued to pursue strength as a martial artist throughout the series and is considered the series' strongest full-blooded human fighter. During the Saiyan and Android sagas, Tien played secondary though important roles in the final outcomes.
In Dragon Ball FighterZ, Tien is a well-rounded fighter who can break through his opponents' defenses with the help of Chiaotzu. With the best-scaling supers in the game, Tien is especially useful as an anchor to switch in and finish stubborn opponents.
Strengths/Weaknesses
Strengths
Weaknesses
Solid mixup game; having multiple lows and a fast command grab when he has the meter to burn. He can also use 214S in the corner to setup his pressure.
Can score a sliding knockdown in almost every situation with Volleyball Fist (after a j. 2H, he can convert with j. 236M).
Very high damage output when he has the resources to burn. Both of his level 3 supers boast some of the highest damage output in the game, allowing him to finish off opponents very easily. If Tien hits you and he's got meter, he can make it count.
Very strong with sparking; the ability to jump cancel out of any move gives him a very strong vortex. The self-inflicted damage from Tri-beam and Neo Tri-beam is also halved, making it less dangerous.
Dodon Ray is an amazing assist. It can be used to control neutral and to extend combos.
Below average neutral game; Dodon Ray has a small hitbox, allowing for easy counter play by opponents. Additionally, his normals are a bit on the stubby side, not having any normals that lunge him forward.
Without sparking, the amount of life that he loses with Tri-beam and Neo Tri-beam is quite severe, making him vulnerable to being downed if not careful.
Unremarkable damage without meter or assist usage. Considering how much resources he has to burn to get crazy damage, he can end up being a bit of a meter hog as well. This, alongside the previous point, makes Tien very fragile, and keeping him alive can be somewhat difficult.
Tien's Telekinesis move, while good, has that chance to fail attached to it, meaning it can be somewhat risky to use. You have to keep track of how many times you have used it, as if you miscount you're leaving yourself wide open due to Chiaotzu messing up the move.
After Chiaotzu self-explosion super is done, Tien can't use the super nor the Telekinesis grab anymore
If blocked, can be cancelled into 236H for a surprise overhead with sliding knockdown.
Lunges him slightly forward and only hits in front of him. Not great against sharp vertically angled superdashes as the forward lunge puts the opponent behind Tien for easy punishing.
Press additional buttons on hit-confirm to extend the special.
The quick version of the Volleyball Fist. Useful for catching opponents off guard or spamming high attacks.
M
236MM Volleyball Fistspecial
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
On-Block
Attribute
Invuln
Smash
Prorate
Ki Gain
Attack Level
Blockstun
Ground Hit
Air Hit
700
Low
21
12
20
-5
-
4-30 Guard, 1-30 ki blast
-
-
-
-
22
Launch
-
M guardpoint
Tien strikes a pose, gaining guard point before doing a sliding low attack.
Press additional buttons on hit-confirm to extend the special.
Guard point does not activate on frame 1, but it’s very early.
Blocks projectiles, mid and low attacks.
Loses to throws, supers, and overheads. Which is ironic since it's a volleyball bump.
Due to having guard point, this version will scale your combos and followups more than L version.
Even though only the pose has autoguard, successfully blocking incoming attack will make the slide invulnerable to strikes and projectiles that aren't Supers. If timed correctly, Tien can go right through beams.
H
236HH Volleyball Fistspecial
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
On-Block
Attribute
Invuln
Smash
Prorate
Ki Gain
Attack Level
Blockstun
Ground Hit
Air Hit
1800
Throw
24
1
29
-
T
4-28 guard
D2
-
-50
-
-
Launch
-
H version
A short ranged command grab that costs one bar.
Follow-up hits are automatic and cannot be vanished out of.
Stays same side.
Causes a sliding knockdown.
Scales like 236M.
An useful tool to confuse someone who's blocking too much in a corner.
Volleyball Fist Follow-Up 1
Volleyball Fist Follow-Up 1 Volleyball Fist L/M > L/M/H on hit
Using L will keep you on the same side of the opponent you are currently on. Good if you don't want to steal the corner away.
M
236X > MM Volleyball Fist Follow-up 1special
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
On-Block
Attribute
Invuln
Smash
Prorate
Ki Gain
Attack Level
Blockstun
Ground Hit
Air Hit
800
All
12
-
-
-5
B3
-
-
-
-
-
-
Launch
-
Switches side.
An important tool if you want to reposition yourself behind the enemy. Usually most useful if the "wall" behind you is closer than the one in front of you.
H
236X > HH Volleyball Fist Follow-up 1special
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
On-Block
Attribute
Invuln
Smash
Prorate
Ki Gain
Attack Level
Blockstun
Ground Hit
Air Hit
1200
All
16
-
-
-5
B3
-
U1+
-
-50
-
-
-
-
Leaves Tien enough time to land j.M.
By delaying button press so that Tien doesn't do Follow-up 2, you can start air combos with this.
Damage depends on what the starter is. Starts with 236L will do more damage than 236M.
All version launches the enemy vertically and follows them into the air.
Pressing an additional button will cause Tien to slam the enemy to the ground.
Volleyball Fist Follow-Up 2
Volleyball Fist Follow-Up 2 Volleyball Fist Follow-Up 1 > L/M/H on hit
Hold buttons during Tri-Beam's startup for this version.
Minimum damage: 713*2.
It doesn't matter which buttons used to perform Tri-Beam. Hold L or M during startup to keep the Tiens same side. Hold H or S to make them them shoot both sides. I don't know if this changes the frame data though, damage and scaling are the same.
Neo Tri-Beam
Neo Tri-Beam 214L+M (Air OK)
"Well ya know what...? F*ck power levels... F*ck Super Saiyans... AND F*CK YOU!"
3 bar super. Holding down the buttons allows him to tack on additional damage at the cost of one meter per extension. Deals unrecoverable damage to Tien on use.
First hit does 1000 damage to Tien, then 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500.
Tien cannot die from self damage, and can do the first beam even at 1 HP.
Will only take half self damage during Sparking (500 at 3 bars, 4000 at 7)
If Tien doesn’t have enough health to continue, the Super will stop regardless of remaining meter.
Travels in a straight horizontal line, level with the enemy when the move as initiated.
Cannot be cancelled into but can be comboed into.
Can hit aerial opponents, but whiffs on crouching ones.
Won't come out if Chiaotzu is still doing Telekinesis.
On hit, both this super and the Telekinesis special can no longer be performed for the rest of the match.
Minimum damage is 2160. This is the highest damaging Lv3 Super at max scaling, not counting Supers that you can spend more bars on.
While the maximum output of this super is lower than Neo Tri-beam, the damage scaling on this move makes it an absurd combo finisher. It's also handy to catch people unawares toward the end of a match, especially if they've got a health disadvantage and are prone to blocking.
To edit frame data, edit values in DBFZ/Tien/Data. Be sure to update both the move and the move Full sections. One is shown on the character page, while the other is shown on the frame data page.